Nfl

PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Fred Jackson's path to the NFL was much like one of his long, serpentine touchdown runs, the ones where he zigzags across the field and beats defenders not with blistering speed but an uncanny feel for changing directions at precisely the right time. That Jackson made it to the Buffalo Bills — and became one of the better running backs in the league — is an inspiring testament to his determination, because a lot of other players would have long since given up. His career didn't route him through Los Angeles, Ann Arbor, Columbus, Baton Rouge or any other big-time college football hub. Jackson went to Coe College — a Division III school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa — wasn't invited to the scouting combine and barely got a sniff from anyone in the NFL. He's now a centerpiece of the Bills, who open the regular season Sunday at the New York Jets.

The National Football League has tapped Perkins Miller, formerly of the WWE and NBCUniversal, as its chief digital officer. The move is part of a reorganization of the NFL Media Group spearheaded by Chief Operating Officer Brian Rolapp. "As you well know, the walls between 'traditional' and 'digital' media have all but disappeared, and as such, our media strategy has had to change and evolve," Rolapp said. At WWE, Miller was executive vice president of global digital media and played a key role in the development and launch of the WWE Network, the new online programming service that premiered in February and has about 700,000 subscribers.

We're at the point where any San Diego Chargers victory can be summarized in two words. This goes back to Nov. 19, when between updates I saw a 24-7 San Diego deficit against Denver turn into a 35-27 Chargers victory and I text-messaged a friend to ask what happened. My buddy's reply: "LT happened." Flash-forward to Sunday, when the Chargers had to deal with a strong Oakland Raiders defensive effort, a shaky performance by quarterback Philip Rivers and a 14-7 Raiders lead in the fourth quarter.

Herschel Walker has no plans of playing pro football again. But it has nothing to do with the fact that he's more than half a century old. Instead, the former college, USFL and NFL star told USA Today that he's just too busy with multiple business ventures to suit up again. Otherwise, Walker said, he truly believes he could be successful as part of a running-back platoon. “I can play in the NFL today,” he said . “I couldn't take every snap. But running backs nowadays don't play every down.

On the night his professional football career ended, Napoleon McCallum was unconvinced. He had been rushed by ambulance to a Bay Area hospital, his left leg grotesquely twisted when the Los Angeles Raiders fullback was tackled by San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ken Norton Jr. at Candlestick Park. It was the opening Monday night of the 1994 season, the Raiders' last in Los Angeles. And for McCallum, it was the last game of his career. He just didn't know it. More than 15 years later, seemingly none the worse for wear after six surgeries to repair the damage to his leg, the former Navy star looks back on an unusual career abruptly cut short.

Philip Anschutz doesn't get pushed around. He's a billionaire who makes business deals with his head, not his heart. When he sets his mind to something, he stands firm. In other words, he's not likely to bring an NFL team back to Los Angeles. Throughout the Farmers Field process, it was Tim Leiweke, then president of AEG, who was keeping the concept alive, scrambling to keep all parties engaged, always selling the notion that a downtown L.A. stadium would not only work but would be the gem of the NFL. Without Leiweke as a buffer, we have two behemoths of business - Anschutz and the NFL - poised to bang heads again, each with distinctly different ideas of what a fair deal is. Anschutz told The Times that his decision to pull AEG off the sales block actually makes it more likely a team will return, not less.

More than 2,000 former NFL players and their families will file a “master complaint” in court Thursday, consolidating their nearly 100 concussion-related lawsuits against the NFL. The complaint will be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, alleging that the NFL “deliberately and fraudulently concealed from its players the link between football-related head impacts and long-term neurological injuries.” ...

Baltimore 37, at Carolina 13: Welcome to 2011 draft, Panthers, whose starting quarterback was signed this week. You are on the clock. at N.Y. Jets 30, Houston 27: Jets feel obliged to offer fans free stress tests after consecutive OT road wins and this heart-stopping comeback. Buffalo 49, at Cincinnati 31: Smallest crowd since 2003 feels even smaller after watching Bengals blow a three-touchdown lead to Bills. at Jacksonville 24, Cleveland 20: Jaguars' glass-half-empty game plan allows for six turnovers, including five in the second half.

The most-watched NFL conference championship game since 1982 and two "American Idol" episodes helped Fox draw the largest weekly average for any television network in the last two broadcast seasons. With the National Football Conference Championship Game averaging 57.93 million viewers, and the two "Idol" episodes finishing second and third, Fox averaged 24.4 million viewers for its prime-time programming between Jan. 18 and Sunday, according to figures released Tuesday by the Nielsen Co. Viewership for the New Orleans Saints' 31-28 overtime victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday was the second largest for an NFL conference championship game, trailing only the 1982 matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, which averaged 68.7 million viewers.

Jerry Markbreit was an NFL official for 33 years, the referee in eight conference championships and four Super Bowls. This week, the league essentially showed him the door. Markbreit, along with eight other former prominent game officials, were apparently fired for refusing to train replacements to take the jobs of locked-out officials. The replacements, many of them high school and junior college officials, met Friday for training in Dallas. “The NFL never actually told us in writing we were fired,” said Markbreit, 77, who retired in 1999 as a game official and has spent the past decade as an officiating trainer.

Earl Morrall was the NFL's answer to a brilliant Broadway understudy. He left his mark on NFL history by stepping in for two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks - Johnny Unitas in Baltimore and Bob Griese in Miami - and turning in a string of masterful performances to keep his teams on track. "All Earl ever did was win games for me, whether it was as a starter or coming off the bench," said legendary Miami coach Don Shula, whose 1972 Dolphins finished with an unblemished 17-0 record - the only perfect season in the NFL's modern era - thanks in large part to Morrall.

Anthony who? The armchair speculation about UCLA's defense this spring has centered on how the Bruins will replace Anthony Barr, the All-American linebacker who is expected to be a top-10 pick in the NFL draft. The Bruins have devised two answers to fill that void: scheme adjustments and Myles Jack. Jack was named to the Freshman All-American team by the Sporting News last season, and was the Pac-12's defensive and offensive freshman of the year after a late season run at running back.

Former defensive back Troy Vincent said that during his 15-year NFL career he "played with six openly gay players in the locker room," though he did not offer the names, and added that the individuals were accepted by teammates without issue. Vincent, recently named executive vice president of football operations for the league, said those teammates had not publicly announced their sexual orientation but that teammates were aware. "They were players," he said. "Roommates on the road.

The NFL released its 2014 schedule Wednesday evening, revealing that Seattle will play host to Green Bay in the Thursday kickoff opener. That's a rematch of the controversial “Fail Mary” game in 2012, when replacement officials awarded the Seahawks the winning touchdown on a Hail Mary throw that appeared to be intercepted in the end zone by Green Bay. In Week 3, Seattle plays host to Denver, the team it beat in Super Bowl XLVIII in February....

Former USC receiver Marqise Lee is among 30 players who have confirmed they plan to attend next month's NFL draft in New York. Lee is one of seven receivers who will be at the draft, which begins May 8 at Radio City Music Hall. Odell Beckham Jr. of Louisiana State, Brandin Cooks of Oregon State, Mike Evans of Texas A&M, Cody Latimer of Indiana, Jordan Matthews of Vanderbilt and Sammy Watkins of Clemson are other receivers scheduled to attend. Lee declared for the draft after playing three seasons at USC. He won the Biletnikoff Award as college football's top receiver in 2012.

Picking up where they left off in February, the two teams in Super Bowl XLVIII, Seattle and Denver, open the 2014 NFL season with blockbuster games. The league released its schedule Wednesday, revealing the defending champion Seahawks will play host to Green Bay in the opener Thursday, Sept. 4, and Indianapolis will play at the Broncos in the opening Sunday night game. Packers-Seahawks is a rematch of a 2012 "Fail Mary" game won by Seattle on the final play, a controversial touchdown pass that from every camera angle looked to be an interception by Green Bay. Replacement officials called it a touchdown for the Seahawks, however, and that game proved to be the final straw that ended the officiating lockout.

In the NFL, it's not always how you start, but how you finish. The San Diego Chargers can attest to that, having overcome painfully slow starts the last two seasons only to make the playoffs with a flurry down the stretch. So it's only natural that, when the NFL announced its 2009 schedule Tuesday, the eyes of Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith were immediately drawn to the final month of the regular season. "I want to know the back four," Smith said in a telephone interview.

Re "Officials roll with AEG's punches," March 16 While riding a shuttle home from Los Angeles International Airport after returning from a business trip last week, I passed Exposition Park, with its multitude of venues. As a native Angeleno who remembers visiting the museums, attending the circus at the Sports Arena and watching Rams games at the Coliseum, I was struck with nostalgia. How ironic to read just after that about the turmoil surrounding the canceled sale of entertainment giant AEG and the doubtful future of the football stadium it planned on building in downtown L.A. I understand that the neighborhood around USC has changed dramatically over the years, but given this development, are we absolutely certain that nothing can be done to revitalize what's right in front of us?

Ex-NFL star Darren Sharper will remain in a Los Angeles jail pending another court hearing next month, the latest development in the ongoing sexual assault investigations against the former safety that stretch across five states. Friday marked the 38-year-old's third appearance in a Los Angeles courtroom this week. Superior Court Judge Renee Korn delayed the others pending an Arizona judge's decision on whether Sharper was eligible for bail on the charges he faces there. After a two-day hearing in Phoenix, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Warren Granville ruled Thursday that Sharper was not entitled to bail on one of the five counts.

The scene was part Bolshoi Ballet, part Marx Brothers. Four UCLA running backs lined up yards apart, forming a square. On a signal, they burst forward, dodging each other at the last second. Then another group stepped up and repeated the bit. What looked like an elaborate game of chicken was actually part of a Running Back 101 course led by first-year assistant coach Kennedy Polamalu. "We're trying to get the mental part down," Polamalu said. "… We're on them pretty good.